Suarez ban excessive: Chiellini

Suarez ban excessive: Chiellini

BBC Online

This combo of 2 photos shows Italy's defender Giorgio Chiellini (L) showing an apparent bitemark and Uruguay forward Luis Suarez (R) holding his teeth after the incident during the Group D football match between Italy and Uruguay at the Dunas Arena in Natal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 24. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini says the four-month ban given to Luis Suarez for biting him is excessive.

Suarez, 27, bit the Juventus player during Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy and has been banned from all football-related activity until the end of October by world governing body Fifa.

Chiellini, said he has "no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez".

Suarez has also been backed by World Cup winner Diego Maradona, who labelled the extent of the ban as "shameful".

Suarez, who flew back to the Uruguayan capital Montevideo in the early hours of Friday morning, denied the biting allegations in the wake of his clash with Chiellini, claiming the centre-half had bumped into him.

But Fifa decided he was guilty and handed him the longest ban in World Cup history.

As well as a four-month ban from any football-related activity, Suarez was also given a nine-match international suspension and a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs (£65,680).

Writing on his personal website, Chiellini, 29, said: "I have always considered unequivocal the disciplinary interventions by the competent bodies, but at the same time I believe that the proposed formula is excessive.

"Now inside me there's no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez for an incident that happened on the pitch and that's done. There only remains the anger and the disappointment about the match.

Now inside me there's no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez for an incident that happened on the pit... http://t.co/ESlqaHBu9b
— Giorgio Chiellini (@chiellini) June 27, 2014

"At the moment my only thought is for Luis and his family, because they will face a very difficult period."

Suarez has also lost a sponsor - online gambling firm 888poker said it had "decided to terminate its relationship" with "immediate effect".

Tourists joke in front of an advertisement with the portrait of Uruguay's forward Luis Suarez at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 26, 2014. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Former Argentina captain and manager Maradona declared his support for the Liverpool striker on his television show De Zurda on Thursday night.

"The Fifa sanction is shameful, they have no sensitivity towards the fans, they might as well handcuff him and throw him in Guantanamo," said Maradona, who was wearing a T-shirt bearing the message 'Luis, we are with you'.

"It hurts that they have cut short the career of a lad who is a winner. It's an excessive suspension, Fifa cannot talk about morals to anyone."

"Suarez didn't kill anyone. This is an unjust punishment, the act of an incredible mafia."

Maradona interviewed Uruguay's president Jose Mujica during the programme broadcast on Telesur TV.

"We Uruguayans are full of anger, those coming from below do not understand anything," said Mujica.